


LightningClan: The Dawn of a New Clan

by Lightningstar



Series: The Tale of LightningClan [1]
Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2018-10-13 17:10:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10518159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lightningstar/pseuds/Lightningstar
Summary: When a cat hears stories of the ancient Clans ThunderClan, ShadowClan, WindClan, and RiverClan, she goes on a quest to form a Clan of her own.But without having any real connection to StarClan, she has to face a question that could lead to her Clan's demise; What will they do without Warrior Ancestors to guide them?





	1. Prologue

She awoke with a start. The rustle of the leaves on the trees outside was hitting her twoleg's den again, making an annoying thump noise every time the wind blew. Hissing with frustration, she got up to her paws and stretched the sleepiness out of her muscles. Her belly growled, so she jumped out of her bed and out of the cat door. For whatever reason, her twolegs kept her food and water outside the den instead of in, so it wasn't rare to see her bowl empty. Stepping onto the hard and cold patio after the soft and warm carpet in her den, any tiredness that clung on her now was killed in the chill that ran up her legs. Looking over to her side, she saw her food and water bowls, both red in color and empty in content. Holding back a hiss of frustration and refusing to go in to beg for some food, she decided that she would go out and attempt a hunt. Mice were sneaking in the closer leaf-bare crept, so it wouldn't be too hard to find one of the pests nibbling on something around her. Pricking her ears, she heard mouse squeaks from the left of her home, and right next to her best friend's home.

Following the squeaks, making sure to be as quiet as possible, she stalked up close enough to put the mouse right into view. Gathering her strength in her legs and calculating her jump, she leapt across the air and landed square on the mouse's back, finishing it off with a killing bite.  
"Good catch, Mya!" A voice said above her. Mya looked up from her catch and saw a small brown she-cat looking down from the fence that split apart their gardens. "Looks like you really aren't just sleeping around everywhere." the she-cat added in sarcastically.  
"Oh shut it, Cynthia." Mya joked, "Of course I don't just sleep around everywhere. I  _sit_ and _stand_ around places too, silly." Cynthia gave an amused purr in response and leapt down from the fence, landing perfectly in front of Mya.  
"Well, don't work yourself too hard, or else you might be forced to lay down somewhere instead of just sleep." Cynthia flicked her tail against Mya's ear in an affectionate manner. "Anyways, I take it you ran out of food?" She said, looking at the empty food bowls.  
"Yeah. _A_ _gain_." Mya replied.  
"Eesh, your twoleg needs to their act together. Twolegs are dumb, but are they really dumb enough to not notice your food gets stolen all the time?"  
"Perhaps they're just giving me more reason to hunt the mice?"  
"Hmm.. Maybe.. But that seems a little harsh, don't you think?"  
"Well, food's food. Hey, did you happen to see who keeps stealing my food? I know it's a cat, and the scent is familiar, but the wind always blows it away for me to recognize who it is."  
"Oh boy, I remember catching them red-pawed once, but I can't remember their name. I think it was Timothy? Again, I think, so don't quote me on this."  
"Timmy? I doubt she'd steal people's food. What about Jessiya? They do look alike."  
"Jessiya, Timmy, I dunno. I remember they skedaddled the second I called them out on it, though." Cynthia made an amused purr again, as if recalling the memory.  
"Hmm. Well, if you remember any more details than "it's a cat," let me know." The wind blew out again, stronger than before. It ruffled up the fur on both she-cats, making them bear a resemblance to a porcupine.  
"WOO THAT WAS COLD!" Cynthia screeched and scrambled over the fence. Before jumping back down on her side, she turned back to Mya and said, "Welp, time for me to leave, but I'll talk to you later, 'k?" With a soft  _thump_ , Cynthia went back into her garden before Mya retreated back through the cat-door, carrying her mouse with her.


	2. The Forest Tale

Mya sighed as she looked at her twoleg's old nest and her old garden. The windstorm from a moon ago had become so strong that it blew the tree out of the ground and right onto the nest. It was being cleared up by a bunch of twolegs in orange pelts with giant, loud monsters, but progress had started slowing down now that the hottest of greenleaf was here. The twolegs would get red and wait in the shade. She thought it'd help if they took off their extra pelts, but the twolegs kept them on as if their life depended on it.  
After the accident, Mya's twoleg had moved in with Cynthia's twolegs until the damage had been undone. There was nothing wrong with being denmates with her best friend, but she often missed her privacy. Oh well, it was probably going to be this way for a while. They had just gotten rid of the tree yesterday, now they needed to fix the den itself. Mya leapt off of the fence and onto one of the many rocks in Cynthia's garden. Rocks were all over the place, all in various sizes and shapes, and it was one of the funnest things a cat could do to jump all over them. Making a dash around the perimeter, Mya went from one small, flat rock onto a large, jagged one, then over to a giant circular one. Resting on top of the circle, she looked at where she could put her paws next. Leaning over to see if any were on her right side, one of her claws slipped and with a yowl of surprise she crashed onto the dirt ground.

"Graceful as always." Cynthia snarked from the porch.  
"Is now really the time?" Mya growled, trying to look and sound irritated but really, was fairly amused. Cynthia looked up at the sky; it was almost sunhigh.  
"It isn't. Normally I make my sarcastic comment on your actions at sunhigh, not before." Cynthia's amused smile was met with Mya's glare as she let out a small hiss of annoyance and padded up to the porch. The sunshine made Cynthia's smooth brown pelt look glossy, while it seemed to emphasise Mya's black with gold spots. Sitting next to her friend, Cynthia clearly had her head up to Mya's shoulders when sitting at her tallest, even if she was older than her by at least 12 moons. The two she-cats sat and watched the clouds, pointing out random shapes, then getting up to play fight, then going back to looking at the clouds. Finally, night time came and the two went back into the twoleg den, sleeping the rest of the night away.

It was dawn, and Mya and already gotten up and left Cynthia's den. Instead of jumping on the rocks, totally not in spite of yesterday, she decided that she'd instead take a walk around the neighborhood. Her usual path was around the thunderpath, which led in a circle around the nests right back to her home. As usual, the small brown and black puppy this one twoleg had rushed over to its fence and started barking, which got the attention of a big golden dog in the same nest. Normally she'd give them no more attention than a quick glance, but feeling confident, she padded over to the fence the dogs were on the other side of. She prepared a mighty hiss and growl, but something stopped her. The dogs kept yapping away, but she didn't feel a need to be angry with them. Instead, Mya let out a friendly purr. The bigger dog stopped barking and looked confused, while the smaller one kept barking.  
"So... Uh.." She tried to find words. She didn't know why, but she felt an urge to try and talk with the dogs. "It's a nice day today, huh?" The golden dog sat down and watched her curiously, while the smaller one was still jumping and whining. "What's your name? Er, names?" Suddenly, the nest to the door flew open, and a female twoleg came out yowling. Both dogs turned towards her immediately, whining with their tails between their legs. The golden dog trotted over to her instantly, while the smaller one had to take a few moments to pry itself away from the feline across the fence. "Um, bye then!" Mya said after the door closed with the dogs inside. Turning to leave the nest, she couldn't help but think she saw the golden dog watching her walk away through the window.

 

The day had gone from nice to bad. Mya curled up and closed her eyes around moonrise, Cynthia curled up next to her. She couldn't get the image of the dog looking at her out of her head. She knew it was normal for dogs to look at cats, but there was this certain look in their eyes, some knowing look that you'd see in your best friend's eyes, a look that made it seem like they were old friends meeting up again. The thought of that dog knowing her personally sent a chill up her spine, she didn't exactly want to be popular with dogs. But at the same time, it would be pretty awesome to be the first cat to befriend a dog.  
 _Bark!_  
'Wait, is there a dog outside?'  
 _Bark!_  
'Oh dear, this IS one, isn't there?'  
 _BARK!_  
'It's not right outside the house, is it?'  
"CAT!"  
'Did that dog just say "cat?"'  
"Cat, I know you live here!"  
'It was nice living, but now I'm gonna die.' Mya slowly got up and jumped over to the window. The golden dog from earlier was sitting outside the fence. The dog spotted Mya almost immediately, and said, "You're different from every cat I've met. Come out here, I need to talk to you."  
'Oh man, what should I do? I don't want to go outside where they can tear me apart. But if I don't know what they want to talk to me about it's going to keep me up at night for moons.' After overthinking the entire situation, Mya meowed, "Alright, sure, whatever."

Stepping out into the cold night, the moonlight turning Mya's black and golden pelt grey and cream, she went to the fence where the dog sat, waiting for her to arrive. When she got there, the dog started talking. "Tell me, cat, do you know about your ancestry?"  
"My what?" Mya said, confusion quite evident in her voice.  
"Your ancestors. Your parents. Your family. My ancestors are, very far down in the chain, wolves. Do you know what yours are?"  
"My family? Um, I know my mom is a cat named Shannon, and my dad is a cat named Harley."  
"Wow, a cat that actually knows their parent's names. I thought cats were always taken away as kits?"  
"Most are. I got to stick around with them long enough to remember them."  
"Hmm." The dog stopped and started thinking about something. Wanting the awkward silence to stop, Mya went on.  
"I also have a sister, named Sierra. But beyond that, I don't know anything else." The dog looked back up at Mya again.  
"Far beyond your family tree are the big cats you descended from. Lions, tigers, leopards, the big cats who ruled the wild."  
"Ooh, that sounds cool." Mya stopped to think for a moment. "So uh, why are you telling me this anyways? I'm sure you didn't treck across the entire twoleg place just to tell me I have a lion mane in my genetics." The dog let out a little bark of laughter.  
"Of course that isn't the reason I'm here. The way you acted today, faced with two barking dogs, you walked right up to us without an ounce of fear." Mya figured this wasn't the right time to tell them that she was actually pretty terrified. "You acted like the ancestor you bear an uncanny resemblance to. I mean, just look at your pelt! That fur pattern isn't at all natural on cats." Mya looked at her pelt and knew the dog was right. She had a pitch black pelt with golden spots. She also had a golden muzzle, neck, belly, paws, and tail tip. The spots had darker spots of black surrounding them, just like a leopard's spots. "You have a leopard fur pattern, with colors that don't normally mix. I believe that this is an omen." Mya, intent on studying her now unique fur, snapped her attention back to the dog with a startled gaze when they said "omen."  
"An.. 'omen?'" She repeated. She was perfectly fine with ending this conversation and going to bed, but at the same time, she could learn so much from this that her curiosity led her past her anxiety.  
"Yes, an omen. There was one part of your ancestry I did not mention. Long ago, right around this area, there were 4 Clans of wild forest cats. In fact," The dog pointed their tail at the park a few twoleg nests away. "That area was where they lived. The 4 were forced to leave because the twolegs came and tore apart their homes to make space for parks and more nests. The journeyed over across those mountains," The dog moved their tail away from the park and over to a big mountain, the peak covered in snow. "They found a new home there beside a lake, past the mountain and far beyond our view." Mya stared at the mountain. It didn't look habitable for cats, but what about the space beyond it? Did she really have living family on and beyond those snowy mountains? The dog went on. "They believe in their warrior ancestors, and believe that when a cat dies, their spirit leaves this world and goes on to live in the stars, forming StarClan. They are right to believe so, these StarClan warriors are able to warn the Clans of what the future holds. They give the leader of a Clan nine lives, so the myth of cats having nine lives holds some truth." The dog looked Mya in the eyes, an intense and serious look held in their brown gaze. "I believe that you are destined to become the leader of a new Clan. Whether or not you choose to bring your Clan over to the other 4 is entirely your choice. Good luck bringing your cats together, because when the time comes for you to follow your destiny, you'll need all the luck you can get." The dog turned away and started heading back to its nest, leaving Mya with a hurricane of questions. She managed to call out after the dog,  
"Hey! What's your name?"  
"I'm called "Alec." But no need to introduce yourself," Alec interrupted Mya right as she was about to speak. "I already know who you're going to be, Lightningstar."


	3. A Brief Nightmare

_'I already know who you're going to be, Lightningstar.'_

Alec's last words kept ringing in Mya's ears. It had been weeks now, and no matter what she did, she could never get her mind off of what Alec said; that she was destined to become the leader of a Clan. The idea of being responsible for other cats' lives made her toss and turn in her sleep, and it didn't help that she and Cynthia shared the same nest. She'd often accidentally kick her friend out of her sleep, or press up against her too hard, and this led to half-awake quarrels between the two she-cats. Even though everything said clearly wasn't meant, Mya couldn't help but blame herself for her friend losing sleep over worries that were far from her own. She had tried to figure out where to begin on her quest to start her new Clan, but she just didn't know enough to get started.  
"Well, Clans must have a leader, since that's what I'm supposed to do. Is there more than one? Like, two cats that work together on it? Three? What if the leader can't figure out what to do on something, who helps them? There must be some second-in-charge, it'd be too much for just one cat to handle, right? And what if some cat gets injured? I doubt a group of wild cats would rely on twoleg vets to take care of injury or illness; would they be left to die?" Mya muttered the usual questions and worries to herself as she walked to the kitchen in Cynthia's nest. The orange-pelted twolegs still hadn't fixed her own nest. It was a work-in-progress, but a very slow one. The greenleaf heat was too much for the orange pelt twolegs to stand, and their work started to consist mostly of sitting in the shade, chugging and gulping down as much water as they could. She couldn't blame them that much, this was the hottest greenleaf she had ever lived through. It was as if the sunlight turned into fire before hitting the ground, it was almost impossible to go outside.

_'And if I'm supposed to lead a Clan into the wild, where we don't have the shelter of twoleg homes, I certainly hope we go somewhere colder than here!'_

Thinking about the usual issues with the inevidable Clan life, Mya hadn't noticed Cynthia walk right up to her.  
"Mya! You got bees in your ears or something?" Cynthia shouted right into Mya's ear.  
"Whoa! How long have you been there?"  
"I'd be easier to count how long I haven't." Cynthia replied in a sarcastic huff. "As I was trying to tell you, Timmy's here. I figured you'd like to talk to her for a little, since it's been forever since we've seen her." Timmy! She's a buff-and-white she-cat with hazel eyes, on the chubby side as far as size goes. Her name wasn't really Timmy, it was Timothy, which is supposed to be a twoleg tom name, but the mousebrains gave a tom name to a she-cat regardless. She lived far away enough to make getting a chance to see her pretty out of the norm. Mya leaped up to her paws, her worries and tiredness washed away with a new energy. It would be nice to see an old friend again!  
Timmy was waiting for the pair at the door. Upon seeing Cynthia and Mya arrive, she padded up to them with her tail in the air.  
"Hey Mya! Long time no see! How've you been?" Timmy said, touching noses with Mya when she got up to them.  
"Oh, I've been fine. How about you?" Mya replied, a purr rising in her throat despite her trying to hold it down. Timmy's eyes widen in surprise.  
"You've been fine? Even with that windstorm a moon back? I heard it knocked a tree down onto your home! How did you survive that?"  
"Oh, right, the tree. Well, my twoleg must've heard it cracking, because they woke me up and then I heard it too. So they picked me up and ran out the door with me. That's how we got out. Then Cynthia's twolegs let us stay with them." That was about all the could remember of the night, the more she thought about it. Mya was sure there was much more to it than a simple wake-up and run, but any other details were faded. Timmy looked over to the crushed house there, and the orange twolegs who flocked the area. A chill sliced through Mya like an icy claw. Something was wrong with these twolegs. Something was VERY wrong with them. They were all still, like orange trees dotting the area. The world stopped and everything was still. Fear rising through her, Mya turned her head over to her friends to see if they were seeing the same things. She recoiled when she turned and saw her friends were no longer there, but instead an endless valley of mist with dark shapes looming just beyond sight replaced them. She turned back to the twolegs. They were only a few tail lengths away from her now, their red faces no longer red and burnt from the greenleaf sun, but now pale and cold. They no longer had eyes, a nose, a mouth, or ANY of the features of their faces. It was as if someone had hidden their faces behind masks of snow. Mya took a step back. The twolegs took a step forward. Terror pulsed through her, making her tremble. She took another step back, the twolegs took another step forward. She turned and ran. She could hear the stomping of the twoleg paws hitting the ground, following the cat in pursuit. Terror made Mya run faster than a monster, and black dots started to appear in her vision. Suddenly, the ground dropped from under her, and she went cascading down the misty depths. Looking up, orange and white creatures were following her. They had claws extending at least a mouse length from their paws, all reaching like falling icicles for her. They had gleaming yellow and red slits for eyes, and their mouths opened into a hole filled with endless amounts of needle-sharp fangs. Only one thing let Mya know that these creatures were the twolegs from before, the orange pelts they all wore. She looked away from them, and saw ground start to appear under her. It grew closer, and closer, until-

"AHH!" Mya let out a screech and hurtled off of the porch. Timmy and Cynthia jumped and screeched in alarm, both going off in opposite directions. The dirt rose into the air as dust and filled Mya's eyes and breaths, making her cough and blink frantically. Her heartbeat was going faster than a hare being chased from a cat and her fur was all spiked up. She looked around for the monster twolegs, and saw no trace of them. She only saw the regular twolegs, all sitting in the shade and yowling at one another. The burnt up twolegs, wearing orange pelts, were nothing like the orange and white monsters with needles for claws and teeth and gleaming slits for eyes. Still, fear gnawed at her belly and urged her to run, so she did. Her paws seemed to have their own directions on where to go, and she made no effort to stop them. Whatever got more distance between her and the orange twolegs that could turn at any time was her best friend right now. Her paws carried her from Cynthia's rock nest, where Cynthia and Timmy were yowling at her, but she couldn't distinguish any words, and down the thunderpath and away from her familiar territory. For what felt like seasons later, she finally stopped running, panting and wheezing for air. She looked up and found herself at the park that Alec had mentioned when they last talked.  
  
"The Clans.." she heard herself say. She found herself looking around the park, poking her nose under random bushes, looking out onto the open fields and wondering if groups of cats had lived on them once, seeing fish dart away in the river that gently flowed past on a pebble bed. She saw a twoleg "bridge" go over the water, and not too far away, twoleg kits were jumping across stepping stones that went across the river while the adults stood off to the side, watching them. A soft tug of wind brought dog scent over Mya, and for a second her heartbeat got faster, until realizing it was just a few hours old. The dog would be gone by now. Relaxing, she walked away from the river and over toward the expanse of trees over by the edge of the park. The noise of the twolegs died more and more the closer she got to the forest edge. Well, it was more of a walking trail than a forest, the dirt paths twolegs seem to use so much cut through the middle of the trees and, after exploring it a little, branched off into many different directions. Ignoring the alternate routes, Mya drew into the heart of the forest. She picked up dog scent again, and made a mental note to look out for it later. Eventually the scent faded again, and the memory of it with it. The noises of the forest were calming to Mya as she walked deeper and deeper into the woods. Hunting instincts urged her to go after the scuttling noises in the undergrowth, but something kept her going on the same trail. Finally, the forest walk ended with the pathway opening back up into open fields. There were more twolegs here, some with dogs, some with their kits, but all equally loud. She continued on anyways, giving in to the feeling of purpose and direction here. She took a path that veered away from the twolegs and ended up on the hillside next to them. She went over the hillside and a little beyond, and then she saw where her paws were leading her. Out in the distance, just barely recognizable from the distance, stood Alec, staring right at her.

It looks like he was expecting her.


	4. That doesn't sound right

"Glad to see you, cat." Alec barked out when Mya approached. Her feeling of knowing where to go earlier had vanished; it seemed like this was where she was supposed to be. But then brings the question, how did even a part of her know the dog was waiting for her?  
"Were you.. expecting me to come here?" She couldn't stop herself from asking. Alec's expression was unreadable, and she briefly thought back to the snow faced monster twolegs, when they lost all features of their face except that sickly color.   
"Well.. I've been planning to go visit you, but from the way my longpaws-er, twolegs, have been acting since I left the first night, it's made it almost impossible to get out of their sight. This is the first time I've been out of their view since then, but I'm certain that if I left to try and go to your home, I probably wouldn't be let outside again for moons. But as for how you found me? Maybe it has something to do with-" A series of excited barks and yaps interrupted Alec mid-sentence. Both the cat and dog quickly threw their gazes over in the direction of the barks, just in time to see the small black and brown dog that lived with Alec rush over the top of the hill. Its gaze was locked right onto Mya as it dashed down the hill. Alec let out a relieved pant and let out a loud bark. The small dog stopped almost immediately, having what looked like a confused expression to Mya. She couldn't tell, Alec was really the only dog she'd ever spent more than a few seconds with without a chase breaking out. Or any form of aggression really. The small dog and Alec barked to each other for a few minutes, before Alec turned to Mya again and yipped, "That's Chocko, a puppy my twolegs got recently. I'm trying to teach him that cats are not our enemies, but..." Throwing a quick glance over at the puppy, who was shaking and whimpering in excitement from seeing a cat this close, "it's a work in progress." Chocko was panting from his overwhelming excitement as he slowly crept towards Alec and Mya. Upon reaching them, he gave Mya a few wary sniffs before jumping up with his paws on her shoulders and giving her a bunch of licks to the face. He only stopped when Alec grabbed his scruff and, with a slightly annoyed sounding grunt, heaved him off the cat. Chocko gave a happy yap before spotting his own wagging tail and chasing it in circles. Mya couldn't help but let out a purr. The pup was cute, even if he had tried to tackle her just moments ago. "Ahem. Anyways, since you're here, we need to talk about the Clan. So tell me," Alec shifted around on his paws a little. "do you have anything planned on it?"  
"Well, you see.. um..." Mya could practically hear the dissappointment in Alec's voice when she said she had no clue where to begin. "I've.. I have no clue where to begin." She meowed quickly. Not so fast that it was impossibile to tell what she said, but quick enough to get the message across. She braced herself for the dog to give a comment about how dumb cats could be, or something you'd expect by a natural enemy, but what Alec said in response both surprised her and made her feel ashamed that she was so quick to think the dog would be rude.  
"That's not very surprising. You did just get this big responsibility dumped on you, and you have to trust a natural foe to be your advisor. I could've explained it better that night. I'm sorry." Alec gave Mya a quick lick on the ears, and a jolt passed through her body as he did. It wasn't any day that a cat recieved a friendly gesture from a dog. "But the simple part is deciding where to begin. What will you name your Clan? Let me think for a moment here.. Ah yes, the Clans had a specific naming structure. A natural element that describes them, and "Clan" after it. Like ShadowClan, the Clan known for being sneaky. You know, like shadows." Alec stopped to give the area behind his ear a quick scratch. "And then there's WindClan, the Clan with the fastest cats. 'Run like the wind, Bullseye!'" Mya gave Alec a blank look. "It's uh.. a twoleg reference. It comes from something I've seen the kits watch before. I can understand twoleg speech just as well as I can understand cats and dogs. Anyways, then there's ThunderClan, known for being the strongest, and then you have RiverClan. They can fish, and also seem to be the only cats who know that water isn't toxic. Kudos to them, for being the smartest. So those are the already existing Clans. I remember there being another one, other than StarClan, but I can't recall the name. I remember that they had powerful back legs that let them jump like frogs, though. 'Reach for the sky.' Uh, another quote, from that kit thing. So, what will your Clan's name be?"

Mya stopped to think about it, but nothing seemed to be fitting. 'ForestClan? Oh, what, we live in the forest, how creative. Um.. RockClan? What do we do, sit around like rocks? Ugh, how about.. WaterClan? No, that's too much like RiverClan.. Curse you, RiverClan, for picking that name.'  
"If it helps at all, I believe the Clans were named after their founders, Thunder, Shadow, River, and Wind. Heh, I'd love to see the beginning of MyaClan." Mya playfully swiped at Alec's legs. It was kinda funny, but not that funny.  
"Aren't you just the best at naming. Clearly, I should give up my current name of Mya and let you pick the new one." She said in the flattest tone of voice she could manage. Alec's tail started wagging.  
"I know, I'm the greatest, and if you insist, I shall change your name to.. Leaf. Hello, Leaf."  
"If you're saying I'm light pawed, buddy, you got another thing coming!" Mya launched herself at the dog, her claws sheathed and hanging onto the thick golden fur with just her strength alone. Alec let out a startled yip and half-heartedly tried to shake her off, making a dramatic fake collapse when he "failed" to get the cat off.  
"Oh no, I've been defeated!" He yelped. He got back to his paws, sliding Mya off of his side, and shook his fur to clean the dust off of it. "Anyways, back to the task at paw here." There was a more lively light in Alec's eyes, Mya noticed, that wasn't there before.  
"Well, if the Clan is named after what they most represent, I know it's not a natural element, but if a cat and a dog are working on this together, why not call it.. UnityClan? Because we're uniting as one to take care of this?"  
"'UnityClan.' Hmm. Interesting choice." Alec responded in a tone that made it hard to tell what he meant by "interesting." Hopefully he didn't mean a bad type of interesting..  
"B-but!" She felt a need to try and make sure he didn't think badly of her Clan name choice. "Seeing as we barely even have the Clan formed, how do we know what could describe us the most? You can't look at a kit and know everything about them, right?"  
"I suppose that's true." A twoleg yowled something and Alec looked over. With a sigh, he said, "Well, my twoleg calls. Chocko, let's-wait, you dont' know what I'm saying.." Alec let out a few barks to the puppy, who had started running in cirlces next to them. When Alec finished, he let out a little whimper and reluctantly followed Alec over to the twoleg who had yowled. Chocko gradually sped up and darted over to them while Alec lagged behind. He turned over to Mya, and barked out, "I'll talk to you again soon!" and followed the puppy over to the twoleg, who now had two of the leading tendrils they used to keep dogs under control.  
She may be friends with a dog, but Mya would never understand why Alec let twolegs put those things around his neck.

  
The moon was climbing up above the mountains that the Clans lived on. Mya hadn't returned home, she decided she'd rather stay the night outside of the house. Besides, it'd be embarrasing to come back after the way she left. Maybe if she came back tomorrow they would've forgotten, and she'd never have to worry about explaining the situation? "UnityClan.. something about that doesn't sound quite right." The thought that the name was off had never left Mya's mind the second she came up with it. She didn't want it to be the name of her Clan, even if it was representing what the Clan was about. It just sounded so off, thinking about having to say that was her Clan made it feel like one of the pebbles her twolegs fed her got stuck in her throat. She honestly couldn't blame Alec if he thought the name didn't work, because it certainly wasn't for her. Looking down from the mountains and down to the square dens twolegs lived in that dotted the landscape below her, she could just barely see her current den's rock garden. She couldn't see Cynthia or Timmy. They must've gone inside. If Timmy was still there at this time, she intended to stay the night. At least there was sleeping space for her. She got up to her paws and turned her back on the twoleg place behind her. Now there was a small little clump of forest in front of her. Did the Clans used to live in this? Did it used to be bigger, and be home to a lot of prey for cats to chase and hunt? If this was the type of life meant for her to lead, at least she could get used to it. Spotting a clump of drying-out ferns, she patted them down and curled up. The hooting of owls in the distance, the pitter-patter of tiny feet in the small undergrowth around her, the faint noises from twoleg place not too far, all seemed to get louder as she closed her eyes. She could feel bugs starting to crawl onto her fur, and stopped trying to sleep in vain efforts to keep them off. This was going to be a long night.  
But better sooner than later, right?


	5. That certainly didn't go as expected

_'That was a horrible night. I barely got a wink of sleep, and I think I have some flea bites on my a-'_  Mya didn't get to finish that thought, as she was interrupted by a big growl from her belly. A pang of hunger seemed to fizzle inside her, and now all she could think of was getting home and scarfing down some food. She slowly clambered out of the makeshift nest she made last night and shook some water off of her sides. At least, she certainly hoped it was water. She nipped at this small black bug that was crawling around under her fur, missing and getting her sick a few times but finally managing to get the thing off. There were some red marks around where it had been. Were those bites the bug left on her?  
Suddenly very aware of the fact millions of the bugs could be biting her right now, Mya made a mad dash towards her home.  
"I need.. *pant* to get home.. *pant* to twolegs.. *pant* so I can get them off! *pant*"

It wasn't too long before she reached her part of the twoleg place. She dashed past Alec's garden without noticing it, and over to her home without a single stop. Memory of what happened last time she was here popped up, and she skidded to a stop so harshly that the rocky thunderpath put scrapes on her paw pads. "Owie." Was about all she could say about it. She leaped up to the fence around the rock garden, and scouted for Cynthia or Timmy. She couldn't spot them, so she went in. She had just reached the cat door when Cynthia said, somewhere behind her, "Mya!" She had just turned around in time to see Cynthia hurtle right into her. "Where have you been? What happened? Why are your paws bleeding? ..And why are you so wet?" Cynthia's questions vanished the second she asked a new one. It must've been obvious that she was tiring her friend out, as Cynthia said, "Sorry if I'm a little over-bearing, but you just ran off yesterday after that freak-out. I was worried." A wave of guilt ran over Mya. Sure, it could've been embarrassing to come back after such a grand exit, but she should've at least let Cynthia know she was ok.  
"Sorry Cyn. I just had some.. very realistic macabre thoughts." That wasn't technically lying, right?  
"Hm. Well, at least you're a-okay. Now come on, let's get those bugs off of you."  
As awkward as things felt, at least the worst of this was over.

 

The worst of things were not over.

Apparently, the twolegs had gotten really freaked out about me just vanishing like that, and Cynthia's just fainted when I came in the house. I was confused, until Cynthia said that I looked like I had been drowned, poked by a bunch of needles, and then whirl-winded back home. Looking at how I was soaked, bug bites showed up so clearly on me now, and my fur was spiked off in a bunch of different directions, I could easily believe her.  
The worst part was not Cynthia's twoleg fainting, it was that they made a plan to stop me from leaving the house. They put this metal collar on me, and this invisible field around the garden that only blocked me. By zapping me through the collar. Timmy came back later that day, and she explained that it was something called a "shock collar." Twolegs used these to keep animals-mostly dogs-in a certain area by having the collar react to an invisible field. When the collar and the shield touched, it let out a small zap to make the one wearing it go back to where they're supposed to be. Cynthia commented on this and said it was absolutely despicable that twolegs would do that. Mya didn't believe that type of thing was possible at first, and ran right out of the garden. Yep, that type of stuff is possible. And painful. And no, there were no openings or loopholes, either. She found that out the hard way.  
_'Perhaps things wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to talk to Alec. But looking at how my first night in the wild went, how am_ I _cut out to be the leader? I can't even lead where my paws go, this hunk of rock around my neck controls me!'_   Mya looked over to her side and saw Cynthia curled up, asleep.  _'Whatever makes me a leader, I don't think I could do it without her.'_ She closed her eyes, and drifted into sleep.

"GO AWAY, YA MANGE-PELT!" Cynthia's screech made Mya shoot to her paws right away. Cynthia's yell came from outside. Running out at the speed of light(ning), she saw Cynthia hissing at a dark silhouette at the fence. The fur on Mya's shoulders spiked up and her ears went down, her teeth baring. The shape at the fence was growling until it spotted Mya. Upon seeing her, the shape stood up to have it's front legs go over the fence and had a tail that started giving a small wag. Realization swept over her like a wave, putting her fur down, her ears back up, and her teeth hidden.  
"Alec?"  
"Good to see you, cat!" The shape that could now be identified as Alec barked back. Mya trotted up to the fence, missing the perfect opportunity to enjoy the beautiful "Wat" expression on Cynthia's face. Fear upon being near the fence's zap forced Mya to stop in her tracks before getting very close to the fence.  
"Where have you been? This week's been full of plenty of opportunities for us to meet up. I know me not being around didn't stop you before. What is now?" Alec asked. "And.. why do you look so worried? It's just me, I won't bite." Concern could be heard creeping up in his bark.  
"Well, 1. Shock collar. And 2, Shock Collar. I can't leave beyond the fence." Alec's expression of confusion and worried ebbed into complete worry and sympathy.  
"...I see." Alec backed up and got all 4 paws on the ground again. He continued backing away until he was on the opposite side of the thunderpath. As if on his own cue, he made a run towards the fence.  _'What's he doing? Does he think breaking the fence will fix the issue? And if so, why didn't I think of that?'_  Alec made a great leap before reaching the fence, easily clearing over it in a single jump. He landed with a skid in the rock garden. "Surprisingly graceful, for me." Alec said, probably to himself, as he shook some dirt from his paws. He trotted over to Mya and gave her ears a quick lick. "Well, if you can't get out, I'll just get in. How about that?" Alec was clearly trying to not wag his tail, but was failing from the small wiggle it gave.  
"It certainly works. Just don't hit the fence." Mya joked. Alec gave a little whimper of amusement.  
"I'll at least be good at jumping from it."  
"So uh. Can someone. Please tell me. What's going on?" Cynthia squeaked from the porch. She didn't look very happy about the visitor. In fact she looked about ready to jump out of her own pelt and go camp out in the woods for a night rather than stick around with a dog about 5 times her size.  
"Oh, Cynthia, this is Alec! He's a friend of mine, don't be shy!" Cynthia reluctantly crept into the rock garden, her fur fluffed up and her in a wincing pose, ready to break for the door if the dog attacked or gave chase. "Alec, this is Cynthia. She's my best friend, has been for years." Alec gave Cynthia a polite nod.  
"Nice to make your acquaintance."  
"Um. Hi? Period? Question mark?" Cynthia mewed.  
"So, ca-er, Mya, tell me, is she going to be one of your Clanmates?" Alec asked. He asked it so casually too, like he expected that I had told Cynthia about the whole Clan thing. Cynthia's fear gave up for some confusion.  
"Clan.. Mate?" She asked. Alec winced a little. He gave me a "Sorry about the thing I just did" look.  
"Ah. Well, you see, Alec.." Mya's voice wavered a little as she spoke. "I haven't, told her, about it yet." Alec nodded.  
"I see. I'll do so for you, then." Alec turned to Cynthia and told her the entire thing about the Clan, down to telling the story about the Clans who had once lived her to how Mya had been chosen to lead a new one. Cynthia seemed more at ease with Alec's presence as he went on, being a little too generous on details of their former meet-ups and how Mya had decided to go with Clan life and leave her old one behind. "So, now all that needs to be done is to find cats to join UnityClan and find a place to live. Once that's done, Mya will have fulfilled the prophecy." Cynthia's look was completely blank for a few seconds. Then she shook her head and looked at Mya. No wait, she wasn't looking, was she..?

She was glaring.

"So  _that's_ what's been going on, then? You leaving all those times? You were meeting up with a dog so you could plan out how you were going to turn your back on everything you've known? On every _one_ you've known? You were just planning to disappear one day?! And never even let me know you were all right?!" Cynthia's outrage spilled over to grief, and her yowling only got louder.  
"Cynthia, that's not what-"  
"If that's not what it is, then what is it?!"  
"I-"  
"OKAY GUYS, that's enough yowling for one night. Cynthia, that's not what's going on. Yes, Mya would be leaving, but it doesn't mean that she has to leave you. You could go with her. I feel like you're completely missing the part where I said that she's looking for cats who're willing to go with her. Mya, I'm sorry I mentioned it. I should've been a little more tactful with my words." Cynthia didn't respond to Alec's interruption with words. She just gave one last icy glare at Mya and stiffly walked back into the house. Alec started to whimper, "I'm sorry about that. That certainly didn't go as expected. I figured, being best friends and all, she'd at least be willing to listen to the whole story here." Mya let out a long sigh.  
"It's not your fault. I've never been good at talking to people, I probably messed something up there and made her angry."  
"She didn't even let you talk." A long silence dragged out between the cat and dog as they sat in the rock garden, the moon rising higher into the sky. "Ahem. I believe I've overstayed my welcome. I'll talk to you later."  
"No wait, Alec, don't-!" Before Mya could finish, the golden dog had jumped the fence and was walking home. "..go."

_'How am I supposed to be a leader if I can't even keep my friends happy?'_


	6. Escape Twolegplace: White Sleeper

Cynthia's glare was burned into Mya's memory as the days went by. She didn't know if her friend was still angry with her or not, she hadn't even tried to talk to her since that night. She would open her mouth to say something, but the words would get stuck in her throat before they came out. The day after Alec had confronted them was just an awkward, tense silence whenever they ended up near each other, and in Mya's eyes, that hadn't changed a bit. It was impossible to get chances to meet up with Alec now, because the shock collar her over-protective twoleg put on her still wouldn't let her pass, no matter what she did. She just spent her days hiding from Cynthia and napping, having dreams of being in the wild with the wind blowing over her fur.

Something it seemed she wouldn't get now.

Mya didn't know how much time had gone by since Cynthia and her's, uh, talk, but what she did know is that she was sitting on one of the taller rocks near the fence, watching the sun go down. It was an oddly fast sunset though. Every blink she had, the sun was a noticeable amount further down than it was before.  
"That is really weird.." She said under her breath.  
"What is? Everything seems normal to me." Cynthia? Mya whipped her head around, and saw the slender brown she-cat sitting behind her on the rock. "You've been avoiding me. That's what's weird." She moved up to be sitting next to Mya, her white tipped tail resting over her white paws.  
 _'Wait a second.'_  Mya couldn't shake off a sudden sense of foreboding. Not because Cynthia was near her, though the idea of that alone did leave a little unease to dart around inside her. No, what did throw her off was..  
"Um, Cynthia? What's up with your, um.. paws and tail, there? You don't have any white fur.." She looked back up to her friend's face, and recoiled right away. Her face was turning white, her facial features were vanishing. It was a very familiar white, a sickening tint. The white color on her paws, tail tip, and face grew over her beautiful light brown coat like vines growing and strangling the life out of the plants around it, and now Mya could remember where she'd seen this before.

"The.. the m-m-monster twolegs! They got to you?" It must've been some type of sickness! It caught Cynthia but didn't reach her, because she ran. She should've warned her friends about it! Did Timmy have it too? Without knowing it, she had crept to the edge of the rock they were sitting on. Cynthia opened her mouth and talked, but instead of her normal voice she had a meow that sounded like scratching your claws on a monster's hide. It hurt her ears to listen to.  
 _"What's the matter? You look as if you've seen a monster!"_  Without hesitation, Mya bolted from the rock, leaving the sick version of Cynthia behind. She ran right into the fence in her blind panic, and quickly scrambled up. She got to the top of the fence and jumped out of the rock garden, and bolted across the thunderpath. She stopped in the middle of it with a realization.

"Wait. Why didn't my-?" She looked down at her chest, where she was able to see part of the shock collar that kept her contained. At least, she normally did see it, but now it was gone. She looked back to the rock garden, but where it used to be was a growing white void, growing and crumbling the normal world like it was nothing in its endless hunger. It grew to every place she could've escaped to, except for- "The thunderpath is safe? Do the monsters twolegs ride scare it?" As if in a response, the thunderpath behind her started to crumble away, tearing itself apart into the white void. Fear made her panic-bolt dead ahead on the thunderpath, hopelessly trying to outrun the consuming white void as it slowly caught up to her. Exhaustion weighed like stones in her legs, but she kept going. The roar of a monster was heard in the distance, and panic continued to flutter like an injured bird in her stomach. All of her fear slowed her down, until she stopped dead in her tracks. The monster's yowling was close now. Too close. Dangerously close. It wouldn't stop yowling either. Had it spotted her from somewhere in the white void and was waiting to pounce, toying with her as her last moments grew close? A voice yelled through the empty world. She'd never heard it before.

"You need to leave twoleg place behind, or you'll have a fate similar to this!" The monster roared once again, but this time Mya could see it. It was as white as the void, charging to her with jet black paws. The exhaustion and terror seized control of her muscles and kept her locked to the spot, leaving the last thing for her to remember be a giant black monster paw just a whisker away from her face.

 

Mya darted out of her sleep, panting and sweating so hard, it seemed impossible to be even remotely calm or comfortable ever again. She sat down on the grass, trying to relax herself and calm down. A few minutes went by, and now the terror and exhaustion was replaced with confusion and fatigue. How was she still here? She looked up at the sky. The moon was sitting right at the top, the stars shining right next to it. Behind her, she saw the forest she had slept in a few nights ago. Her nest was scattered from her thrashing in it. "How am I here again? I was killed by a monster.." The memories of Cynthia as the white corruption took her over, along with the rest of the world, and all of the days spent after the incident were just a blurry haze, as if she was watching them through ice that got thicker the harder she looked. Even the incident itself was becoming nothing if not a blur. There was only one thing she could remember. _"You need to leave twoleg place behind."_ She didn't know who had said it, or why or how, but one thing was obvious.  
That was all a dream. None of it really happened, but it will if she went back to the twolegs again.  
Well, maybe that's 3 things that are obvious, and not one, but the message was clear.  
"I need to leave the kittypet life behind. Now." Mya said, feeling confidence and dread for the future mix and become one of the weirdest feelings she'd ever had.


	7. Escape the Twoleg place: Wind

She paced on the thunderpath for who-knows-how-long, contemplating just how she was going to do this. The kittypet lifestyle was the only one she'd ever known. She was soft and squishy like a kittypet, had no muscle or survival skills at all- _Doesn't all of that mouse hunting count as a survival skill?_   Her mind piped up. She shoved this thought away with another,  _That barely counts as hunting. Those mice practically jumped into your paws and begged you to kill them._ She could see the rock garden from here. She knew that if she waited for Alec to come and tell Cynthia that she was planning to run away into an unknown life, things would go as her dream did. Well, maybe not exactly, like with the white corruption that had spread everywhere, but just about everything else seems possible.  _Yep, friends hating me, getting a shock collar, getting killed.._ A shiver ran down her spine at the thought of that monster's giant black paw rolling over her, crushing her flat into a cat pulp. With her fur ruffled and her mindset now set to the good 'ol "Let's wait for everyone to yell at me!" state, she jumped over the fence, ignoring the open gate. Why? She's a cat. What cat does things in a not-obnoxious and/or overworking it way? Like how things went in her dream, she expected to see Cynthia come out and be worried about her disappearance, but nobody came. She looked down the thunderpath in both directions for any sign of Alec, and he wasn't around.  _Well, it was just a dream. It doesn't mean anything._ She thought this over and over again, but that thought didn't sit well. She knew she was lying to herself. It felt like a bee was buzzing in her brain and the only way to appease it was to admit that the dream meant  _something_ , even if she didn't know what. But stubbornness came and met her while she tried.  _I'm not going to let some silly dream rule my future. I do things the way I want to._ Stubborn pride was in her nature, like a grand old tree that never bent. Like the one that crushed her old home to the ground. Piecing that all together, Mya got about as much sleep as she did outside as she did inside.  
Which is to say, none at all.

The next morning, which started for Mya when the moon was coming down -  _Thanks, insomnia._ she thought bitterly - she barely noticed that she hadn't seen Cynthia at all last night. A momentary panic rushed through her until she saw Cynthia come into the room Mya was in about 3 seconds later as if those thoughts worked as a cue for her to come in. Mya said nothing, absentmindedly eating the brown pellets the twolegs had given them. There was so much she wanted to tell Cynthia. About the Clan, about Alec, about her dream, but she couldn't muster up any intent to say anything.  _I don't have to, either. I can ask Alec for help-_ the monster paw. A shiver ran through her once again as the awful memory played in her mind. It didn't seem too violent of a shiver, but she knew it probably gave off the idea that something was up. Stealing a glance over in her direction, Mya saw that Cynthia's eyes were glazed with sleepiness. A small wave of relief washed over here, but a small bit of guilt came by too.  _She's probably too tired to notice, but I feel like such a rat for keeping this all from her._  
The picture of the form Cynthia took in her dream when the corruption got to her planted itself into her head. A new thought came by as well. Was she dooming everyone by not saying anything?

It's easy to tell a sad or angry person to just calm down, but that never helps. Mya wanted to protect people, but she didn't want some dream to rule her life. But that urgent voice that told her to leave twoleg place behind forced her to understand that this was no ordinary dream, but she couldn't say anything.  _No, I CAN say something. I just WON'T say something._ _But that might be all it takes to doom us all! Or,_ the monster paw flashed once more in mind,  _at least me._ Mya was at the place where the dream had first occurred. Maybe she could have another one if she fell asleep here again. She curled up and waited for sleep to wash over her.   
She woke up in the same place she fell asleep in. Right away, her first thought was that nothing happened and she just woke up, but her mind counter-argued that the same thing happened in her dream as well. She looked back to the forest she had fallen asleep next to, and nearly jumped out of her own fur when she saw that it was gone. There were only two trees behind her. One was a big, grand tree that looked like it was thousands of moons old. The other was barely a sapling, only a small stick that stood as tall as the average twoleg out of the ground with small branches with barely any leaves each coming out of its top half like ruffled fur. A small breeze started to blow through. The big tree's leaves, high above Mya's head, began to rustle and sway with the wind, making one of the most relaxing sounds in nature. The small tree was barely effected; it had almost no leaves to sway. Between the trees was a space about 10 mouse lengths, enough to fit a cat in. For a second, some of the ground there was different, more of a white color than before. But if there was ever a patch there, it was gone now. The breeze began to blow harder, making the fur on Mya's side start to push back because of the force. The big tree's leaves swayed more violently than before, but the small tree seemed to be having it worse. One of the small branches looked like it was being broken off, and the small thing was bending over because of the wind. Once again, it looked like there was a small white patch was between the trees. It lingered for a moment before vanishing once again. The wind got even stronger. The small tree was bending with it, losing a few leaves and that one branch that was breaking off before, but the big tree was standing its ground still. It lost leaves too, some of them fluttering away in the wind that gradually got stronger and stronger. Mya was nearly being blown off of her paws from the wind, and slowly she made her way to hide next to the big tree. It was wide enough to provide shelter from the wind. She could no longer see between the trees from where she was, so if that white patch came back, she wouldn't know. She could tell the wind became even stronger from how much more rapidly the big tree was losing leaves, the entire green blanket in the sky leaning precariously over to the side. The tree began to groan as the wind got worse and worse. She heard - and saw - some of the bark start to splinter on the opposite side of where she lay, and she crouched lower hoping that that the tree could continue to protect her. Risking a chance, she ducked her head past the tree's width and saw that the small tree was just fine. It was bent at a dangerous angle too, but it wasn't breaking. The big tree, however, looked like it was going to fall over any moment now. The wind got just a tiny bit stronger, and that was it.  
The big tree began to fall.

Alarmed, Mya fled from under the tree. If she had stayed, it would've crushed her. Wind swept constantly as Mya crouched on the ground, watching the giant tree slowly, then quickly, fall to the ground. It landed with a  _thump_ big enough to push Mya up into the air a few mouse lengths. The second the tree hit the ground, the wind stopped. The big tree was no more than a big log and a small stump now. Seeing it fall like that, she had to know how the small tree had fallen. Looking over to it, she was surprised to see that it still stood. It had a weird bend in it still, but not because of wind. It was just flexed. It still had some leaves and branches to survive with. It would keep growing. The white patch came back between the stump and the small tree, but it was no longer a patch. It was Corrupted Cynthia, the sickly white fur being quite a contrast to the bright green grass she, or it, stood on. It spoke, but it had no voice. There was only words imprinted in Mya's mind.  
"You may stand proud and stubborn like a giant tree, but when the wind gets too rough it will be what kills you." It flicked its tail over to the stump and the fallen tree that laid next to it. "If you want to survive, you have to bend with the turns of fate. Like this small tree, who bent with the wind." It looked over to the small tree. It was scarred, sure, but it would live.  
Everything began to fade, except for Corrupted Cynthia as it said one last thing:

"Bend with the wind."


	8. Escape the Twoleg place: Thunder

Mya was still licking various forms of flora out of her fur when she could hear the monsters racing on the thunderpath. She had left the forest in quite a hurry. The thought of all of those towering trees falling over wasn't an appealing one, so out of the forest she raced.

The dreams had certainly helped her along. She knew now that she couldn't stand stubbornly to the idea that only she could change her life. Now the thoughts of everything she was doing had already been planned out long ago started to come to her, and though it was a little terrifying, it was also oddly relieving. She had no clue why.  
"Come ON, you stinky monster. Just pass already!" She yowled at a monster.  _Wow, don't I have some new courage. Yelling at monsters!_ An irritated hiss escaped her. This small black monster with fire markings on it was moving at the slowest pace she'd ever seen a monster go on this particular thunderpath. She saw a bunch of other monsters lining up behind it, all yowling furiously at it. It defied everything she knew about crossing the thunderpath safely, but she began to run across anyways.  _Getting courage, losing intelligence._ She made it to the other side, and the second her last paw hit the grass on the opposite side she started from, she heard the monsters begin to pass by. She turned and saw the shapes of the huge creatures pass by, making a little  _fwoosh_ with them.  _Getting brave, being stupid, and being saved by luck. Good job, me._ And with that thought gone, she headed back home.

On the way back, Mya made it explicitly clear to herself that she needed to do 2 things. 1. Tell Cynthia about the Clan stuff. And 2. She needed to get in contact with Alec again.  
She stopped by Alec's house as she was going, but the dog didn't show up no matter how much she called. Well, save 2 for later, then. For now, she had to talk to Cynthia. And no set-backs. Those were officially banned.

Set-backs were officially unbanned. Mya got back to her home, and saw Cynthia chatting with some other cats. She recognized Timmy right away, the dawn light reflecting easily off of her buff pelt. There were a couple of other cats there too. She recognized them as well. Jaymes, who would've been the shortest cat there if it weren't for Cynthia, was a dark brown tom with black paws. Sitting next to him was Jessiya, a very tall she-cat with blond fur. Jaymes saw Mya and called out, "Hey nerd! You should get over here!" An amused - yet anxious - huff came from Mya in response as she made her way over to the rock they were sitting on.  
"Thanks for the invite, nerd." Mya playfully batted at Jaymes's legs.  
"Hello friend!" Jessiya greeted, dipping her head down for a second which made the front half of her body dip down with it, and then she straightened up again. Her usual greeting towards friends.  
"Why, hello, Jessiya. And I see you're here too, Timmy. How've you guys been?"  
"Hello Mya! Timmy shouted, for some reason. "I've been wonderful!"  
"I've been good. How about you?" Jessiya said. Jaymes just lifted one of his paws and made a "so-so" motion. Mya opened her mouth to reply that she was fine, not dying, etc etc, but the thoughts of her life recently came to her. The pressure of fulfilling something that was predestined long ago by cats she didn't know existed until recently, the idea that she HAD to tell her friends about it sooner or later but not wanting to ruin those friendships in the process- _OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD ME, STOP BEING NEGATIVE FOR 5 SECONDS._  
"I'm fi-good." She replaced the word "fine" with "good" because she remembered that Jessiya said that "fine" meant "bad" to her. It was a lie that tasted bad in her mouth, but everyone in the group didn't seem to notice her little fib. Everyone, that was, except for Cynthia, whose eyes narrowed a little bit. Oh boy. Cynthia knew something was up.  _Isn't that what I wanted?_ But despite that being her wish, thinking back to her first dream, the idea of Cynthia finding out by some form of indirect means felt too dangerous. As soon as their friends left, it was time to fess up.

It was a good thought, but it was obvious it was going to be a little before that happened. If Jessiya, Jaymes, AND Timmy were all able to get there at some point during or before dawn, then it meant that they were likely going to be able to be there for almost the entire day. On any other day, Mya would've leaped with glee at the idea of an entire day to hang out with her friends, but with the Clan responsibilities hanging over her, she was silently begging for them to leave so she could talk to Cynthia.   
Through-out all of the dawn, they were just talking about various things, like how stupid their twolegs were one day. After awhile that got old, so they'd move onto other things. Right now, with the sun making its slow climb over the sky, they were exploring one of the forest-y areas near the twoleg place. It wasn't the one that Mya had spent those nights in. In fact, it was the opposite direction from it. Twolegs rarely interfered here, so the trails were unclear, small prey ran freely in the very overgrown plant life, and overall it made a perfect place for a group of cats to mess around.  
Mya heard something scuttling around a tree not too far from where she was.  _Well, if I have to lead a Clan, we're gonna have to hunt._ Dropping into a crouching position, she slowly made her way over to where she heard the mouse. She wasn't too concerned with the idea of her friends going on because she could easily just track them. Good 'ol smelling saving the day. Her legs were sore from being at such an awkward angle for longer than a minute, but she did finally find the prey she heard. The small brown mouse was digging around a tree. Mya didn't know what it was doing, but she had the intention of making it stop. Tensing up her legs, she made a leap forward. The leaves under her feet slid as she jumped though, so it was less of a leap and more of a big flop onto her belly. The mouse immediately darted off into the bushes away from Mya. These mice weren't easy like the ones that would invade her home. These ones knew how to survive, and you couldn't deny it from the speed it ran away with.  
"Hunting is a lot harder than it looks, isn't it?" Cynthia's sudden appearance behind Mya made her jump up to her feet quickly. Licking her chest fur in a few quick, embarrassed licks, Mya turned and nodded her head.  
"Yeah, it really is."  
"Let's try again somewhere else. The others said they were heading over to that pond that looks like tree, so we can catch up with them later." Finally, a moment alone. Now would be a good time to tell her about the Clan stuff. But before Mya could say anything, Cynthia sprinted over in the direction the mouse had run off to, shouting, "Last one to find new prey is crow-food!"  
"Oi, I'm no crow-food!" Mya shouted back, and darted after her.

Mya had been the first to spot new potential prey. It was a crow this time. It didn't seem to have any friends or even a flockmate with it.  
"Hey, Crow-food, I found some crow-food!" Mya hissed over to Cynthia with gritted teeth. She heard a small scowl and saw Cynthia show up next to her a few moments later. The two she-cats looked at the black bird intently, wondering how they were going to get it without it flying away and sounding an alarm. About a minute of this passed before Cynthia nudged Mya.  
"Hey, I got a plan. How about one of us goes up into that tree right there-" Cynthia flicked her tail over to the oak tree that the crow had moved under. "-while the other goes to try and get the bird?"  
"How's one of us being in a tree going to help?" The second Mya asked, she was sure she figured out the answer.  
"Because if the one who goes for the pounce misses, then naturally the crow will go up to higher area to escape. If one of us is in the tree, there's a chance that we can catch it before it flies away, because we'll be higher up and-"  
"And we'd be able to reach it when it's escaping!" Mya interrupted. "Sorry." She quickly added.  
"Well, you still got the main idea. So, shall I go sky-high?" Cynthia didn't seem too bothered by the interruption, and that was good.  _I still have to tell her about the Clan, and if she's in a good mood, then hopefully things have a better chance of going well._ Mya had no clue when she planned to tell her, but it had to be soon.  
"I'll be in the tree." Mya said. Cynthia looked a little surprised. "I mean, I made a  _really_ bad pounce earlier, so.. uh.."  _If I'm going to be a leader, I have to do what I expect my clanmates to do. This is now officially training in being a leader. Even though-_  
"Even though you're afraid of heights?" Cynthia questioned. She looked a little disbelieving, but when Mya nodded and started stalking up to the tree, she shrugged and let it go.

In the tree and in position, Mya looked down and regretted it right away. She couldn't see Cynthia or the crow anymore, just a mixture of greens and browns that was the forest floor. She lost focus and swayed for a moment, but then got back to her senses. She and Cynthia were on a hunt. She was practicing her leadership ability by expanding her horizon of skills, and it was gonna be great! Hopefully.  
Looking back down again, Mya could finally spot Cynthia. She couldn't see her very well, but when Cynthia flicked her tail, it meant "I'm ready." Mya flicked her tail back and watched and waited. Silently (at least to Mya,) Cynthia crept across the forest floor. She got closer and closer to the crow, and it looked like everything was going perfectly. Cynthia got ready to pounce, but then the crow looked up, squawked in alarm, and flew right towards Mya. Her muscles all tensed at the same time as alarm pulsed through her, but a part of her mind didn't give in.  _Bend like the wind. Be a leader._ This thought helped her relax a little bit. Putting her tension where it would be needed most, the crow was in the place where Mya would have to act now to get it. She made an attempt to snatch it with her claws and felt proud of herself as she felt one of them sink into the crow's leg. She tried to drag it down to herself to make a killing bite, but the bird was much more powerful that Mya originally assumed. It flapped its wings in a panicked, frantic matter, and it started being the one dragging instead. Mya dug her claws into the branch of the tree, using all of the little strength she had to pull the bird to her, but the crow's wing hit her in the face and forced her to keep her head down. She opened her eyes at the wrong moment. She was leaning precariously off of the branch, and Cynthia was but a brown splotch of the leaf floor. She felt the energy drain from her from the height, and her claws slid out of the branch and both Mya and the crow plummeted to the ground.

"OH MY STARS! Mya, are you okay?!" Cynthia's frantic mew reached Mya's ears. The crow laid dead next to her, so at least it was all worth it. Her side hurt - no, her everything hurt - but she did it. She killed the crow. Mya got up on wobbly legs to try and be more convincing when she said, "Yeah, I'm good. Just in a little bit of pain, but that's all." Cynthia looked relieved as she groomed some of the leaf bits off of Mya's pelt. She leaped back for a moment, her eyes bright and her whiskers quivering with excitement. "I wish you could've seen that through my eyes! You struck that thing like  _thunder!_ " The emphasis Cynthia put on "thunder" made Mya smirk. She fell out of a tree with crow in paw, but at least she looked rad while doing it. "I don't know if you even remember that much of your fall, but you held that thing in front of you and made it take the worst of the blow!" Mya did not remember that. She did remember that the crow was next to her though, not under her.  _Wait, these types of errors only showed up in my... Oh no, is this another dream?!_  
"So how did the bird get next to me?!" Mya didn't mean to put so much fear in her tone.  
"The force you hit the ground at made you bounce up a little. The bird stayed rooted to the spot but you fell over to the side. Honestly, you looked like you were dead. But that bounce, eesh, I'm surprised you don't at least have some broken bones from that. You don't, do you?" Cynthia added quickly. A quick flex of the muscles revealed that nothing was broken but everything hated heights.  
"Nah, I'm good."

 _Okay, so I bounced off of the bird because of the impact. But that seems a little stretched. That white sick-corruption thing is gonna start popping up, because it always does after I notice the errors._ Mya continuously looked around her and Cynthia, the body of the crow flinging around a little every time she did, but nothing was out of the ordinary. Time was going by at its normal pace, things weren't changing color, everything was perfectly normal.  
"Are you expecting something to creep up behind us?" Cynthia questioned after Mya had looked around for about the one thousandth time.  
"Well.. No." Cynthia gave Mya the look of "Yeah, right." "Well.. Kind of." Mya said after it.  _Now's the perfect time to tell her. Don't back out of it._ "I've been, uh.. Oh, I don't know how to word this." She thought back to how Alec had explained things to Cynthia in the first dream. That was how she wasn't going to do this. Mya put her crow down. She saw that its neck was at a very awkward angle. That was probably where it had hit the ground from.  _Stop distracting yourself. Get to the point._ "Okay, I think I've figured it out." Mya whispered under her breath.  _I don't have any of this figured out._ "So, I've been.. hearing about things recently."  
"Like..?"  
"Like, uh, you know, stories. Stories about cats that lived in the wild."  
"Cool!" Cynthia sat down and faced Mya. "Go on."  
"Right. So uh, you'll never believe who I heard these stories from. It's this new friend of mine, his name's Alec. And he's, well, not really someone you'd expect me to be friends with. Or really, any cat." Cynthia's eyes narrowed a little bit.  
"Why's that?"  
"Well, you see, Alec's a dog." Cynthia's mouth gaped open for a second before she closed it again.  
"Ah, okay. So you're friends with a dog. Didn't expect that, but why are the wild cats so important? Do they live here?"  _Oh boy, it's time for the kicker._  
"Well, uh, no. According to Alec, they left a long time ago. But there's a piece of them left here."  _PLEASE LET ME BACK OUT NOW._ Mya felt dread hang in her stomach like rocks. This was it. No turning back. "You see, they had a.. No wait, let me rephrase. There has to be.. Ugh, one moment."  _I'm back-tracking. Come on My, cut it out. Just say that-_ "They left, well, they didn't leave it, you see, but-"  _Stalling._ "-Ahem, anyways, there was a, uh.."  _Come to think of it, this sounds like a really unbelievable story. These wild cats left the forest and now there's a prophecy saying that I have to make a new group of cats! Wow Mya, so realistic!_ But she was this far.  
"Okay, if I stall again, hit me." Mya said. Cynthia nodded.  
"Can do."  
"So, these groups of wild cats all looked up to their ancestors for guidance. Those ancestors are called "StarClan." StarClan would guide them with messages and such, and after the wild cats left this area, these ancestors said that a new Clan would be formed by.." What did Alec say again? A cat of black and yellow? A cat that looked like one of the ancients? Did he even say any of those things? "Well, I don't remember exactly what they said, but in short, a new Clan of cats must be made to join the other ones. And here's the part that really makes this whole thing.. a thing that I'm worried about because.. Because..."  _JUST SAY IT_. "Apparently,thoseancestorspickedmetodoit." Mya spat out the words like venom.  
"Come again?" Cynthia said. Her ears were pricked up and focused right on Mya, showing that she didn't catch a single thing she just said.  
"Augh, why is this so difficult? I'm the one that has to make the new Clan!"  _Way to shout that, hero._   _Oh, shut up, me._ Cynthia had a look that Mya didn't know how to describe.  
"The dog told you all of this? How do you know you can believe him?" Her tone was also unrecognizable. Was the first dream coming true?  
"Well, at first, I kind of did for fun, but also because I just did. But then I started having doubts, and then there was that day where Timmy came over and I freaked out and ran off. Well, that was because I saw something. It was like a vision. There was this whiteness, and everywhere it went things turned white and.. corrupted. I saw these white corruption monsters chase after me, so I ended up in the woods. I stayed there, but then I had a dream. It's.. hard to explain, now that I think about it, but it proved that it was all real. So I went back there and I had a dream that told me to bend like a small tree with the wind-"  
Cynthia had a blank expression on her face. Yep. Mya lost her.  
"Look, just, trust me, it's all true! I don't know how to word it, but it just is!"  
"Calm down, I believe you! No need to get your tail in a knot. So you're supposed to lead a bunch of wild cats. But why are you so paranoid now?"  
"Oh, right, that. Well, the white corruption. In my dreams, whenever I noticed that things were off, it would all start to fade into that sickly white. You said I landed on top of the bird, but it was next to me. I thought that this was a dream, so I've been looking around to see if the corruption comes back, but-"  
"Well, you can stop searching. I swear, you landed on it, but you bounced off of it. It wasn't a big bounce either, but just big enough to knock you off of it and make it look like you landed side-by-side." Cynthia licked one of Mya's ears. "The dreams are over. This is reality. And in reality, you caught that bird like a bolt of thunder landing on it."  
"Well, that's relieving." Tension Mya didn't know was there eased itself off of her. The dreams were over. She knew what she had to do, and she didn't need a sleeping spot in the woods to guide her. The first dream had been wrong about Cyn, who was bobbing happily beside her. The crow that Mya held in her teeth right now was real. Before now, the thought of building up a Clan was sickening to Mya. She had no clue where to start or what to do. But seeing that things were just fine, it started to be exciting again.  
"Hey Mya?" Cynthia asked before the two reached the treepond.  
"Yeah?" Mya mumbled through a mouth-full of feathers.  
"Can I join your Clan?" The question certainly took Mya by surprise, but there was only joy in her meow as she replied,  
"Of course! Welcome!"

As the two Clanmates joined their friends at the treepond, words with no voice imprinted themselves into the back of Mya's mind.

_Bend with the Wind.  
Strike like the Thunder._


End file.
